class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/00_muo_player.jpg" alt="blog posts slideshow" />Due to the nature of blogs, where older articles are pushed down by the newer ones, visitors will only see the latest articles when they visit and in the process miss a lot of older posts. If you own a blog, what can you do to make sure that your visitors read as many posts as possible?
One trick is to display your posts at the top of your main page, so they will be instantly accessible. One of the tools that you can use to do this is
href="http://www.wibbitz.com/">Wibbitz, a web service that will help you feature the latest contents of your blog as an interactive blog posts slideshow.
Building The Player
Basically, Wibbitz will help you collect your blog posts (either using RSS or direct links), and then compile them as a slideshow video. Similar to other web services, you should register before you can start building your slideshow player. After registering, you can build as many players as you need. Then you can continue customizing the player.
Start by naming your player with something that you can remember easily. If you want to create more than one player for your blog, it’s advisable to name the players similar to the blog name.
style="text-align: center;">
![]()
class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/01b_customize1.jpg" border="0" alt="blog posts slideshow" width="580" height="312" />
Other details that you need to fill in are the website’s URL, the text that you want to appear on the launcher, and also the theme.
There are several themes (color combinations) available on the list. Choose one that you like and click “OK” to save.
style="text-align: center;">
![]()
class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/01e_browse_player.jpg" border="0" alt="recent posts slideshow" width="580" height="283" />
You can also set the language, upload a logo and item image, and choose the background music.
style="text-align: center;">
![]()
class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/01c_customize2.jpg" border="0" alt="recent posts slideshow" width="580" height="303" />
Click “Next” to move on to the “Content” addition process. You can use your blog’s RSS feed URL, or you can use the direct links of the articles. The advantage of using an RSS feed is that the content of your slideshow will always be updated with your latest posts. But static links can also be useful if you want to keep certain posts always visible.
style="text-align: center;">
![]()
class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/02a_add_content_rss.jpg" border="0" alt="recent posts slideshow" width="580" height="300" />
In the next step, you’ll get a script that you can put in your website to embed the slideshow player. This script is intended for general websites.
style="text-align: center;">
![]()
class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/02c_add_to_site_11.jpg" border="0" alt="posts slideshows" width="580" height="390" />
If you want to install the script on a blog, Wibbitz provides users with a more customized setup. Go to the lower parts of the page and choose the type of blog that you use. For
href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/wordpress/">WordPress, the basic setup is downloading and installing the plugin, then putting the script’s URL path into the plugin’s settings.
style="text-align: center;">
![]()
class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/04a_add_to_wordpress.jpg" border="0" alt="posts slideshows" width="580" height="390" />
After you save your settings, you will be brought to your Dashboard. There are three panes there: “My players“, “Analytics“, and “What’s New“.
style="text-align: center;">
![]()
class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/03a_dashboard.jpg" border="0" alt="posts slideshows" width="580" height="316" />
The “My Players” pane is the place where all of your players are listed. You can edit the player’s settings, view the statistics, refresh the code, or share the players via
href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/facebook/">Facebook. You can also add more players here.
style="text-align: center;">
![]()
class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/03x_my_players.jpg" border="0" alt="03x my players" width="330" height="510" />
Adding The Slideshow Player To A WordPress Blog
I’ll use WordPress as an example since I only have a WordPress blog. To add the slideshow player to a WordPress blog, you have to download the plugin from Wibbitz and upload it to your blog(s).
Since the downloaded plugin is a .rar file, you have to extract the contents and recompress it into a .zip file. You can use almost any compression utility. One recommended free compression application is
href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/7zip-a-free-program-to-unzip-and-compress-uncommon-compression-formats/">7Zip.
style="text-align: center;">
![]()
class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/04b_compress_plugin.jpg" border="0" alt="04b compress plugin" width="580" height="180" />
The next step is to upload the plugin to your blog. Go to the “Install Plugins” menu and choose the “Upload” tab. Choose the file and click “Install Now“.
style="text-align: center;">
![]()
class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/04c_upload_plugin.jpg" border="0" alt="04c upload plugin" width="580" height="210" />
After installation, you will find “Wibbitz Configuration” in the side menu.
style="text-align: center;">
![]()
class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/04e_configuration.jpg" border="0" alt="04e configuration" width="320" height="210" />
Enable the plugin by checking the box, fill in the “Wibbitz Player Path” with the script’s URL, and click the “Update Wibbitz Player” button.
style="text-align: center;">
![]()
class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/04g_player_path-2.jpg" border="0" alt="04g player path 2" width="580" height="260" />
After that a small “Play” button will appear on the left side of your blog. When you hover your mouse over it, the button will slide out with your launcher text written on it.
style="text-align: center;">
![]()
class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/04x_hover_mouse.jpg" border="0" alt="04x hover mouse" width="430" height="250" />
Clicking on the play button will open the Slideshow Player. The player will show articles from your blog. The article’s title will be written at the bottom of the frame, while the article’s main image is moving in the background. If the article has no main image, the background will display Wibbitz’ image.
style="text-align: center;">
![]()
class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/06a_video_result.jpg" border="0" alt="06a video result" width="580" height="370" />
The plugin only allows one RSS feed per blog, but that doesn’t mean that it should be the feed from the same blog. You can put feeds from one of your blogs into another blog’s slideshow player to cross-promote the content.
style="text-align: center;">
![]()
class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/07b_example_muo.jpg" border="0" alt="blog posts slideshow" width="580" height="370" />
If you want to give your visitors some exposure to the articles that they might’ve missed, Wibbitz’ slideshow player is a good way to do so. Moreover, the player will not disturb your visitors as it hides silently at the side until your visitors choose to open it. Try to build one for your blog and tell us what you think about it using the comments below. If you want more permanent-style exposure, you could try
href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/create-beautiful-slideshows-wordpress-blog-slidedeck/">SlideDeck.
/>
/>
href="http://www.supertintin.com/">SuperTinTin – Skype Video Call Recorder
/> Record and save your audio and video conversations on Skype or MSN. Easy to use.
/>
Read comments:
href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/feature-latest-posts-blog-interactive-slideshow-video-wibbitz/#disqus_thread">Loved it? Hated it? Join discussion here …
href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/feature-latest-posts-blog-interactive-slideshow-video-wibbitz/">
src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/feature-latest-posts-blog-interactive-slideshow-video-wibbitz/">
href="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis/login?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/feature-latest-posts-blog-interactive-slideshow-video-wibbitz/">
src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/diggme.png">
href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/feature-latest-posts-blog-interactive-slideshow-video-wibbitz/">
src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/fb.jpg">
href="http://www.google.com/reader/link?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/feature-latest-posts-blog-interactive-slideshow-video-wibbitz/&title=Feature The Latest Posts Of Your Blog As An Interactive Slideshow Video Using Wibbitz&srcTitle=MakeUseOf.com">
src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/gbuzz-feed.png">
href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/feature-latest-posts-blog-interactive-slideshow-video-wibbitz/">
src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/stumble.png">
More articles about:
href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/blogging/" title="blogging" rel="tag">blogging,
href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/blogging-tips/" title="blogging tips" rel="tag">blogging tips,
href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/presentations/" title="presentations" rel="tag">presentations,
href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/slideshows/" title="slideshows" rel="tag">slideshows,
href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/wordpress/" title="wordpress" rel="tag">wordpress,
href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/wordpress-plugins/" title="wordpress plugins" rel="tag">wordpress plugins
/>
Similar articles:
class="st-related-posts">
href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/people-love-show-wordpress-collision-testimonials/" title="People Love You? Show It Off On WordPress With Collision Testimonials (March 23, 2011)">People Love You? Show It Off On WordPress With Collision Testimonials (2 comments …)
href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/selfhosted-wordpress-blog-ipad-friendly-onswipe/" title="Make Your WordPress Blog iPad Friendly with Onswipe (April 7, 2011)">Make Your WordPress Blog iPad Friendly with Onswipe (4 comments …)
href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/set-jetpack-supercharge-hosted-wordpress-blog/" title="How To Set Up Jetpack To Supercharge Your Self Hosted WordPress Blog (March 31, 2011)">How To Set Up Jetpack To Supercharge Your Self Hosted WordPress Blog (1 comments …)
href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-easily-create-manage-a-faq-page-for-your-wordpress-blog/" title="How To Easily Create & Manage an FAQ Page For Your WordPress Blog (December 6, 2009)">How To Easily Create & Manage an FAQ Page For Your WordPress Blog (24 comments …)
href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/add-rich-snippets-reviews-wordpress-blog/" title="How To Add Rich Snippets for Reviews To Your WordPress Blog (March 20, 2011)">How To Add Rich Snippets for Reviews To Your WordPress Blog (7 comments …)



View full post on MakeUseOf